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No Euro glory for Cavan"s O"Reilly

by Linda O'Reilly  Updated: Wednesday, 10th June, 2009 1:00pm

It was clear early on in Castlebar that Cavan Fine Gael Senator Joe O"Reilly was unsuccessful in his bid to take the last seat in this North West constituency. He polled 37,564 first preferences or 7.6% of the vote, a respectable result for his first time out in the European elections.

The three seats were won on the sixth count by Independent Marian Harkin, who polled 84,813 first preferences; Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher (FF) on 82,643 and Jim Higgins (FG) on 80,093. The two sitting MEPs Harkin and Higgins were returned with Gallagher retaining the party seat vacated by Sean O"Neachtain.

The result came in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a recheck of more than half a million ballot papers, requested by Declan Ganley of Libertas, concluded. Ganley had claimed that eye witnesses on the balcony saw first perferences for Ganley going into other candidate"s piles. As it transpired, some 3,000 votes for Independent candidate Fiachra Ó Luain had, in fact, mistakenly made it into Mr. Ganley"s pile. Mr Ó Luain has called for a garda investigation into how this happened and following his defeat Mr. Ganley has said he will 'bow out of political life' and play no part in campaigning against the second Lisbon referendum.

Transfers from Sinn Féin"s Pádraig Mac Lochlainn - who was eliminated on the fifth count - saw Marian Harkin emerging on top, followed by Pat The Cope Gallagher and Jim Higgins in third place. All were elected without reaching the quota and Declan Ganley finished in fourth place, more than 35,000 votes behind the third placed candidate.

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Speaking to the Anglo-Celt, Joe O"Reilly said he wasn"t too disappointed with the result and conceded it was aspirational that Fine Gael would take a second seat.

'I was there to do a job for the party at the party"s request,' he said.

Senator O"Reilly paid tribute to all those who voted for him, especially the people of Cavan in Monaghan.

He polled in excess of 70% of first preferences throughout Co. Cavan.

'I was delighted with the Cavan element. I believe there were boxes in Cavan where I almost polled 100% of the poll. I"m hugely delighted with the Cavan and Monaghan results,' he said, adding that he polled 'respectably' around the rest of the constituency.

Senator O"Reilly did not rule out running for Europe next time out, pointing out that the first time MEP Jim Higgins ran for the party, he polled a similar number of first preferences to that of O"Reilly on this occasion.

The Cavan Fine Gael representative also pointed out that he had a relatively 'short campaign' and his vote was somewhat hindered by his geographical proximity to Paschal Mooney (FF) in Leitrim.

'The party needed a second candidate to balance the ticket in geographical terms and every other way. I agreed to do it at the party leader"s request and am proud of the part I played in getting Jim Higgins re-elected,' said Senator O"Reilly.

In excess of 60% of Senator O"Reilly"s vote transferred to Jim Higgins to help him over the finishing line.

Senator O"Reilly will retain his seat on the Seanad and has pledged to continue to represent the people of Cavan and Monaghan to the best of his ability.